164 NESTS AND EOOS OF 



Two and sometimes three broods are reared in a season and nesting begins as early 

 as May 1st. The nest is often made in close proximity to the farm house. It is 

 rarely built in thick woods. Dr. Jones mentions a nest which he found alongside a 

 railroad track. It is usually constructed of dry grasses, straws, leaves or weeds. 

 The complement of eggs is from fifteen to twenty-flve, often only tw elve, but usually 

 about eighteen. They are pure white unless stained by the bed of grass upon which 

 they lie. At one end they are quite pointed, at the other obtusely rounded; size 

 1.20X.95. 



289a. FLORIDA BOB-WHITE. Colinus virginiamts floridanus (Coues.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Florida. 



A darker colored bird than G. virginlanus. General habits, nesting and eggs 

 the same. Eggs, 119x.92. 



289b. TEXAN BOB-WHITE. GoUnus virginianus texanus (Lawr.) Geog. 

 Dist.^Taxas and Northern Mexico, north to Western Kansas. 



A bird of paler color than the G. v. floridanus. Eggs smaller than C. vii'ffmianus, 

 1.17X.91. 



* * CTJBAIT BOB-WHITE. CoUnits virginianus eubanensls (Gould.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Cuba and Southwestern Florida. 



The late Maj. Bendire in his great work: "Life Histories of North American- 

 Birds," says: "This slightly smaller and darker colored bird than Colinus vifffinianus 

 Horidamis, is found in limited numbers in Southwestern Florida, south of Lake 

 Okeechobee and Tampay Bay." Quoting Dr. Juan Viar6, professor of natural his- 

 tory. University of Havana, Cuba: "The Cuban Bob- White lays from ten to eighteen 

 eggs; these are usually deposited, between the months of April and July, In a 

 slight cavity of the ground, sheltered by vegetation." The average size of nine eggs 

 in the U. S. National Museum collection is 1.20x.94. 



291. MASKED BOB-WHITE. Culinvs ridffwayi (Brewst.) Geog. Dist.— So- 

 nora to Southern Arizona. 



The handsome Masked or Arizona Bob-white is a comparatively recent addition 

 to the avifauna of North America, it having been described and named by Mr. 

 William Brewster in The Auk (Vol. II, 1885, p. 199), from a specimen taken by Mr. 

 F. Stephens, August 11, 1884, about eighteen miles southwest of the town of Sasabe, 

 in Sonora, Mexico. It appears that this species is confined to a narrow strip of 

 country along our southwestern border, and is nowhere as common as the Gambel's 

 and Scaled Partridges, which are found in the same regions. The eggs appear to be 

 indistinguishable from those of the eastern Bob-white. An egg obtained by the late 

 Maj. -Bendire measures 1.22x.94. 



293. MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE. Oreortyx pictus (Dougl.) Geog. Dist.— Pa- 

 cific coast from San Francisco north to Washington. 



The beautiful Mountain or Plumed Partridge is a much larger and handsomer 

 bird than the Bob-white. The head is adorned with two arrow-like plumes three or 

 tour Inches in length; these are noticeable in the chick just from the egg, in the form 

 of a little tuft of down. The general slate and olive color of the adult Is beautifully 

 marked with white along the sides, inner secondaries of the wings, sides of the neck, 

 ■etc. The bird is found breeding along the Pacific coast region from California north 



